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First Exam
The Two Announcements It has been a month and a half since school started. Nothing has really changed, in terms of the attitudes of most towards Tolbert Boese, but an announcement had gone out that no one was allowed to start a fight with him under penalty of expulsion. So the physical threats had decreased, but the verbal threats and the 'harmless pranks' skyrocketed. Tolbert's dorm room was regularly ransacked and destroyed, his lockers were permenatly grafitied with things like "Go home Boscan" and "Die". Overall Tolbert's entire experience at the Fiore Regal Academy of the Combat Arts was rather miserable and if it wasn't for his two friends, Miki Hirosen and Ryūgamine Shindo, he may have dropped out after a couple of weeks. Them, and a reason from home he refused to talk about even with his two friends. If that wasn't enough to deal with, another announcement went out that the first major exam of the year was coming up. The only thing that sounded like it would be even remotely relaxing was that the Harvest Festival was also coming up, right after the first exam. "I hate exams..." Ryūgamine complained. They had lost count how many times he had said this since the announcement, and it had only been announced a few hours ago. "We know Ryūga, we know." Tolbert sighed. They were sitting on the roof of one of the many buildings. "Odd how no one else ever seems to go to the rooves." Miki pointed out, changing topic as he looked out towards one of the lakes and watched everyone below enjoying their luch break. "Typically only delinquents hang out on the roof." Tolbert replied. "Aren't they all still recovering in the infermary?" Ryūgamine asked. Tolbert and Miki nodded in response. "Pretty much all the delinquents came and challenged us before that ban was officially announced, and other than the few that you actually got to beat up, Ryūga, the rest were all beaten to a pulp by either Chitsume-san or Asuna-san." Tolbert answered, then they all shuddered at the memories of Akage Chitsume's Hair and Claw Magic and Misaki Asuna's swordsmanship and her Blood Magic. "I'm glad they're on our side." Miki replied. "Ryūga's probably the only one of us who might stand a chance against either of them, for a few seconds at least." "I don't know about that..." Ryūgamine said. "What do you mean? I can't reliably use my magic often enough." Miki said. "We've never seen Tolbert use any magic." Ryūgamine pointed out. "True..." Miki said and they both turned to face Tolbert. "What magic do you use?" they both asked. Tolbert started stammering and was scratching the back of his head and doing everything he could to avoid answering the question. "Well?" Miki pressed. "Isn't that what the first exam is for?" Tolbert asked finally. "What do you mean?" Ryūgamine asked. "Right..." Miki sighed. "The first exam is some sort of sparring isn't it?" "I believe so." Tolbert said. "I'm starting to look forward to the exam now!" Ryūgamine said happily. "If we're fighting then I might stand a chance!" Then the bell rang, letting everyone know that the lunch break was over and to get back to class. Full Divulgence of the Exam - 3 Weeks to Go The PA system crackled to life, causing everyone in the academy to fall silent for the impending announcement. "Attention, all students and faculty." the voice said. "In three weeks we will have our first examinations of all the students." A general groan followed this sentence, though a few students seemed happy. "This examination will be held the day before the Harvest Festival, and as such the examination will be a school wide tournament." Some gasps of shock, some cheers in prospect of a fight, and some more groans a test is a test after all. "This tournament will be done in three man teams and be held individually between the classes." the voice continued. "The top teams will receive bragging rights for the rest of the year and receive something special during the Harvest Festival." Murmuring about what this 'something special' could be quickly insued. "There will also be a final competition." the voice continued and everyone fell silent again, everyone holding their breaths. "Between the winning teams of each year to determine the top team in the school, at least until the next examination." This time, only the fourth year students seemed exited about the final competition, after all they were the ones who were most likely to win any competition that involved them and any of the lower classes. "Classes will continue normally," the voice added. "But students will be given time each day to train for the next three weeks for the upcoming examination. Don't worry if you're team looses, your grades will reflect your effort put into the tournament until your team is eliminated, so even if you loose right off the bat you can still pass. Until then, carry on with your normal day." The PA system fell immediately silent and the student body become a chaotic mass of talking and planning and dreading and general excitement that interrupted classes for the rest of that day. "We gotta train hard." Miki said to Tolbert and Ryūgamine. "We can't let Ryūga have all the fun and glory." "And we may lose the group name of 'Slacker Trifecta' sooner than we thought!" Ryūgamine said excitedly. "Y-yeah..." Tolbert said, he was clearly less than excited. "What's the matter, Tolbert?" Miki and Ryūgamine asked. "I-it's nothing," Tolbert replied. "Just..." "Your mystery magic?" Miki suggested. Tolbert just nodded a bit. "Don't worry about it! We'll all train our asses off and we'll become the top team!" The room erupted into laughter, Miki having spoken much louder than he ment to. He smirked for a moment, then realized that the laughter was mocking and he sighed before turning towards the rest of the room. "And what's so funny about that?" he demanded. "We have as good a shot as the rest of you! Besides, you haven't seen our full strength! We have some secret weapons!" Some murmuring, mostly about how it probably has to do with the 'Boscan Spy', and more snickering and they were, for the most part, ignored by the rest of the room. "This is gonna be a rough three weeks..." Tolbert sighed. This is Training? The first opportunity given to the students for training came after classes were done for the day. The gym was quickly filled with students, as were the fields on the West Side of Campus, just about every inch of the ground around the lakes and anywhere else one would traditionally think of going for training. Well, traditionally being a relative term, the Slacker Trifecta went straight to the rooves and found them all empty. "Well, looks like the rooves will be our training grounds." Ryūgamine said, removing the bag from his shoulder and pulling his Oni Ken from it. "Though we're like 60 feet off the ground..." Tolbert pointed out, looking past the guard rails and down at the majority of the school out in the fields blasting each other with spells. "Regardless! We should begin our training!" Miki said happily, stricking a pose to try and emphasize his point. "Was the pose necessary?" Tolbert and Ryūgamine asked. Miki nodded with a wide smirk as he turned to face them again. "Now!" he said and pointed at Ryūgamine. "Your magic is...Sword Magic? I'm guessing because you're always carrying that sword." "Actually, it's something called Familiar Spirit Magic." Ryūgamine replied. "Sounds...awesome!" Miki all but yelled. "So this Familiar Spirit Magic...what does it do?" "Well...I'm not sure about anyone else who uses it but...um, the Spirit I'm contracted with is called Ao no Honō, and it's fused into my body." Ryūgamine said. "Impressive, but that didn't really answer my question." Miki pointed out. "Ah...uh...Ao no Honō helps me manipulate Blue Flames." Ryūgamine said with a shrug. "Nice." Miki said. "So Sound Magic, Familiar Spirit Magic and..." Miki and Ryūgamine turned to face Tolbert, waiting for him to finish the sentence. Their white haired friend sighed, defeatedly, scratched his head a bit and shuffled around before he finally answered. "Mirror Magic." he said. "That's perfect!" Miki shouted. "How?" Tolbert and Ryūgamine asked in unison. "I! Don't! Know!" Miki replied and sat down. "You made it sound like you were making some kind of plan." Ryūgamine sighed. "I can think of several." Tolbert replied. "Though I can't guarentee anything until we know who we're up against." "Really?!?" Ryūgamine and Miki asked together. Tolbert nodded. "But first..." Tolbert began. "We need to strengthen our magics. How have you two been training before?" "Fighting." Ryūgamine answered immediately. "I listen to music." Miki replied, almost sheepishly. "Makes sense." Tolbert replied. "Ryūga's magic is more combat oriented and Miki's magic is Sound Magic, why not listen to music for spell ideas?" Tolbert then began muttering incoherently to himself for several minutes, Miki and Ryūgamine grew bored and began lounging. "Alright," Tolbert said finally, shocking the other two out of their bored stupor. "Since Miki can't consistantly use spells, you can practice on Form Mirror so you'll know when a spell works...please don't hurt yourself." "And what should I do?" Ryūgamine asked. "You can fight some Mirror Clones." Tolbert replied. "Please don't cause any more damage to the school than you can help..." "Clones of who?" Ryūgamine asked, though he nodded in response to the second half of Tolbert's statment.. "Me." Tolbert answered. "More because I haven't really figured out how to create clones of anyone else yet." "How will you train?" Miki asked. "By helping you two train." Tolbert replied. "I'll be using magic for you two to use your magic on." "Makes sense." Miki and Ryūgamine agreed. "Then let's get started!" Ryūgamine said with an eager grin, he was looking forward to doing some fighting. The Harvest Festival is Here Already?!? Before anyone knew it, the three weeks of training were up and the Harvest Festival was upon them. "Time flies when you're having fun." Ryūgamine smirked. "Who was having fun?" Tolbert sighed, he seemed tired from three straight weeks of magic use. Miki was stumbling around a bit, one of his spells still seemed to be affecting him. "I told you not to hurt yourself..." "I'm...not...hurt..." Miki said slowly as he continued stumbling. "I'm...just...dizzy..." "The tournament isn't for a while, let's enjoy the Harvest Festival until then!" Ryūgamine suggested, before waiting for a response from the other two, he ran off to one of the nearby stands. "H-h-h-hello..." the booth attendent stammered. "H-h-h-h-how m-m-m-m-m-m-may I h-h-h-h-help y-y-y-ou?" "Are you alright?" Ryūgamine asked. "Are you cold or something? You're stammering a lot." "She's nervous." Tolbert said, walking up to the stand leading Miki. The girl began nodding, tears welling up in her eyes. "Don't cry!" Miki blurted out, moving to stand on his own only to fall to the ground. "Nerves are nothing to cry about." he said from the ground. "What are you trash doing?" an angry voice demanded. "Who made Yuki cry?" "Th-th-th-they d-d-d-d-didn't d-d-d-do anything brother!" she said. Tolbert and Ryūgamine turned to see a blonde in a white outfit glaring at them. "Who is this?" Ryūgamine asked. "Atticus Yamada, aka Paladin, 4th year. He uses Light Magic and is one of the most powerful 4th years." Tolbert replied. "You certainly have a lot of information Boscan trash." Atticus said. "Maybe you really are a spy." "He's not a spy!" Ryūgamine snarled. Miki was currently struggling to pull himself off the ground. Atticus' magical energy began to flare. "You three pieces of trash are simply trying to corrupt my dear Yuki, aren't you?" Atticus spat, his glare intensified. Tolbert took a half step back, prepared to run if necessary, Ryūgamine grabbed his sword, whether he noticed this action was unclear, and Miki didn't notice anything as he was still out of it from his spell. 'A sis-con?' Tolbert thought with a bit of a start. 'I didn't think they actually existed...' "What?" Ryūgamine asked. "Corrupt? Who's trying to corrupt anyone? You just showed up and started accusing us of stupid things." "Th-th-they d-d-didn't d-d-d-do anything brother!" Yuki repeated. Atticus looked at her and his visage softened and he sighed, as if in defeat. "Fine, if you say so Yuki." Atticus said, then he turned to walk away. "But I will be keeping my eyes on these three pieces of trash." "It's Slacker Trifecta!" Miki called after him, the spell finally having worn off, though he continued to lean against the booth. "It's a good thing we don't have to face him and his team." Tolbert sighed. "Team?" Yuki asked. "Brother is the only student that they've allowed to fight on his own." "What?" the Slacker Trifecta all shouted in shock. Yuki nodded. "Brother is the top 4th year in terms of strength." she replied. The three slackers looked shocked, Miki and Tolbert also seemed worried while Ryūgamine's expression looked more eager. "We may've gotten ourselves in over our heads, making enemies like that..." Tolbert said in a depressed tone. "Don't worry about him!" Miki grinned. "We only have to face other 1st years! We'll be fine with your tactical know-how and Ryūga's muscle!" "Yeah!" Ryūgamine agreed. "We're going straight to the top!" "Good luck!" Yuki said happily, and managed not to stammer or stutter. The Exam Tournament Begins! After their encounter with Atticus, Tolbert seemed uneasy and nervous while Miki and Ryūgamine were happily enjoying the Harvest Festival activities. Then the PA system echoed out over the festival hubub. "The exam tournament will be begining in a few moments." the voice said. "Everyone please gather infront of the school's main entrance for further instructions." Everyone did what was requested of them and soon the entire school was infront of the main entrance. "ATTENTION STUDENTS!" a man yelled, he was standing on a platform so the assembled crowd could see and hear him. "THE EXAM TOURNAMENT WILL BEGIN IN A FEW MOMENTS! ALL STUDENTS SHOULD BE AWARE THAT THE EXAM WILL TAKE PLACE IN MULTIPLE LOCATIONS AROUND CAMPUS TO GIVE STUDENTS MORE REALISTIC BATTLE EXPERIENCE!" Murmuring began as some teams began plotting and planning for whatever terrain they might be in. "THERE WILL BE MULTIPLE EXAMINATIONS GOING ON AT THE SAME TIME!" the man continued. "EACH YEAR WILL HAVE AT LEAST THREE EXAMS AT A TIME, SO THERE WILL BE A MAXIMUM OF TWELVES BATTLES GOING ON ALL OVER CAMPUS!" More muttering as some began to worry if they'd be able to watch certain battles. "THE FOLLOWING TEAMS WILL BE BATTLING IN THEIR ASSIGNED LOCATIONS!" the man yelled. The Slacker Trifecta wasn't called so Tolbert suggested they split up and each watch one of the battles between the 1st years to see what their possible competition would be like. Ryūgamine The Familiar Spirit Mage headed to the campus woods. The problem was, Ryūgamine had a rather poor sense of direction and quickly got himself lost. After several moments of tripping over roots he began to hear the sounds of a battle. He began following the sound of magics being fired, or misfired it was hard telling without seeing if the attack was successful or not, and finally managed to stumble into the crowd of people who were there to watch the exam battle. As he stumbled into the crowd Ryūgamine ran into someone. "Watch where you're going, you worm." she spat at him, though she didn't look away from the battle. Her expresion alone was enough to tell Ryūgamine that the battle was not satisfactory. "Worm?" Ryūgamine repeated indignantly, glaring at the young woman he had bumped into. She then looked down at him and scoffed. "So the, 'Slacker Trifecta' is here then?" she said. "An appropriate name, but I would've thought that you three would have dropped out by now." "Don't be so quick to judge, Emena Stark." Misaki said, Ryūgamine then noticed that she had been standing on the other side of the woman he had run into. "Why should I listen to you?" Emena all but demanded. "You and Akage have taken it upon yourselves to protect these-" "Students." Misaki interrupted. "They are students here, just like you and me." Another scoff and then Emena walked away. Then Ryūgamine realized that he had missed the entire battle he was supposed to have been watching and sighed as he followed the crowd this time back to the front of the school for the next round of match ups. Miki Again by the lake where the Slacker Trifecta had formed, Miki couldn't help but smile. Unfortunately his good mood faded a bit as he watched the battle. For first years, one team was showing impressive control over their magics. They were using an impressive combination of Earth Magic, Wind Magic and Fire Magic. The Earth Magic was creating narrow pathways to channel the Wind Magic and boost the Fire Magic. The other team just could not hold it together or even show any trace of teamwork. "Even without Tolbert's impressive tactical perspective," Miki said. "I can see the weak point of their plan." "That so, Noise Boy?" an obnoxious voice cackled. Miki glanced over his shoulder to confirm who he thought it was. "Ah, Soko-san, how are you?" Miki asked as he turned his attention back to the battle. "Soko? What's that mean?" Jack asked. "Sole." Miki replied quickly. "Soul?" Jack repeated. "Not bad, I suppose." Miki's smile came back at Jack's confusion. "Anyways," Jack continued. "you're saying you can see the weak point of their plan." "Well, yeah." Miki said with a shrug. "Take out either the Earth Mage or the Wind Mage and they can't use that tactic." Jack just stood there staring for a while. 'I'm really hoping he's faking this bottom of the barrel personality...' Miki thought. "Of course, the other team just doesn't seem to mesh." Miki continued. The match didn't last much longer and with the Earth Wind and Fire team being the winners everyone headed back to the school's main entrance. 'I wonder how Tolbert and Ryūga faired.' Tolbert A building. A building that looks like it hadn't been repaired in years and just about every inch of it had some sort of grafiti on it. It was the kind of place where the delinquent gangs would hang out or where someone would draw a target to in order to beat them up without any witnesses. 'If all the delinquents hadn't already been sent to the school's hospital...' Tolbert thought, then let the thought trail off with a shudder at what may have been in store for him. To a bystander his shudder may have been seen more as a shiver due to the Ice Magic one of the students was using, though the magic was more water than ice. "Shivering at the magic?" Akage asked. "Or shuddering about the location?" "Location." Tolbert replied quietly. He then began to look around at the assembled crowd, having seen enough of the battle to have multiple plans in place for either team. His gaze stopped on someone who looked almost upset about the fight. "Who-" "Michael Blackburn, third year. He uses Card Magic and Wire Magic." Akage replied before Tolbert could finish the question. "He's actually a member of the Buchanan Family." "But why does he seem-" "Nothing concrete, but I've heard rumors that he really just doesn't like fighting of any kind." Akage replied. "Regardless of the rumors, he's very popular with pretty much everyone in the school." "Lucky." Tolbert sighed. "Rumors just make me more hated..." He then turned away from the building and began walking back towards the front of the school. "The battle's not over yet." Akage said. "It's over." Tolbert replied. A few seconds after he said that the battle was called to an end. 'How does he do that?' Akage wondered. The Slackers' First Real Battle Tolbert, Miki and Ryūgamine all met up and quickly compared what notes they had, Ryūgamine apologizing for missing the match he was supposed to watch. The man who was calling out match ups called the Slacker Trifecta and some group that was calling themselves The Alphas. They hadn't had a match yet so Tolbert didn't really have a plan for them and if they were calling themselves The Alphas then either they're really good or they're really arrogant. If it was the second case then Tolbert could come up with a plan to use their pride against them, but he didn't know what they would do if it was the first instance. Tolbert got so wrapped up in his thoughts, again, that he missed where they were supposed to go for their match. "The roof." Miki told him. "The roof we had spent three weeks practicing on." "Familiar territory is good..." Tolbert muttered as they headed for the roof. "There won't be any surprises from the environment." "I hope so." Miki agreed. Ryūgamine was just happily heading for the roof, excited for a chance to really fight and let loose. "I hope we can control our blue demon, too." Up on the Roof The three slackers stood at the far end of the roof, away from the stairway that led onto the roof. The crowd that followed began amassing near and around the stairway, but there was still plenty of space since this was the largest roof on campus. The official took a position at about the midpoint of the roof, saw that the Slacker Trifecta was there, then turned towards the crowd at the stairway and was looking expectantly for the ones who called themselves The Alphas. After a few tense moments three students came through the crowd. All three certainly had a confident air about them and all three of them were carrying guns. "Gun Mages." Tolbert said under his breath, but loud enough for the other two to hear him. "This'll be difficult." Miki said, voicing Tolbert's concern. "Why?" Ryūgamine asked. "Because all three of them can attack us from back there." Miki replied. "They're long- and mid-range fighters. You're a close-range fighter and you're the most confident in combat." "We're gonna have to try and cover Ryūga so he can get close." Tolbert said. "I'll provide cover, Miki try and use that spell that had you off for so long." "What should I do?" Ryūgamine asked. "Get close." Tolbert replied. "Begin Match!" the official shouted. Immediately the Gun Mages began firing rapid shots at the Slackers. "Form Mirror!" Tolbert shouted, slightly panicked at how quickly their opponents began shooting. Multiple mirrors materialized infront of Tolbert and began absorbing the bullets. After a brief pause where The Alphas stopped shooting in order to reload, the mirrors shot all the bullets back at them. Shouts of panic told him that not only were the opponents trying to dodge all the reflected bullets, but so were the spectators. "That's not gonna help my popularity..." The mirrors faded and Tolbert quickly cast three Mirror Clones and each one took a place next to one of his teammates and himself. He was a little shocked to see that the two that took their places next to Miki and Ryūgamine turned into them. Tolbert made a mental note to remember how to make the clones turn into others. "Go!" Tolbert called. Ryūgamine shot forward with his clone, and Tolbert smiled a bit to see that they were constantly switching places until not even he could tell which was which. Miki wasn't far behind doing the same thing and trying to cast one of his spells. The Alphas had recovered by now and were shocked to see that their opponents had doubled, then they began firing at them again. Almost immediately the Mirror Clone of Miki was destroyed and Miki was hit in the leg. "Fire Twister Backlash Wave!" Ryūgamine shouted as he spun in a clockwise direction and he created blues flames that form a twister of fire around his body. "Evaw Hsalkcab Retsiwt Erif!" Ryūgamine's Clone shouted and mirrored Ryūgamine, but spinning in a counter-clockwise direction. The Alphas, hearing the strange words coming fromt he clone turned their full attention to the real Ryūgamine. They began firing at the swirling vortex of fire that was Ryūgamine. For a few moments it seemed like the bullets weren't doing anything, but then Ryūgamine fizzled out. Taking a shot in the shoulder, the thigh and once glancing off his sword, Ryūgamine fell to the ground dizzy and injured. The Clone however continued on into The Alphas. While it didn't do nearly as much as if Ryūgamine's attack had been successful, the Mirror Clone collided with the gunners and shattered, causing fragments of mirrors to fall around The Alphas. "Miki!" Tolbert called. "Now!" While the other team was focused on dealing with Ryūgamine, Miki had been working on getting one of his spells to work. "Dizzying Clap!" Miki, who was leaning against the fencing around the edge of the roof, yelled clapping his hands together. Visible waves of magic spread from his hands, blue notes following the waves and the area echoing with the sound of the clap. When the waves reached the other team, which them seemed to become redoubled as the waves bounced off of the mirror fragments that surrounded the gunners, they became disoriented and began wobbling and stumbling and falling over themselves and each other. After several seconds it was clear that The Alphas weren't going to recover anytime soon. "This match is over!" the official called. "The winners are The Slacker Trifecta." Tolbert let go of the breath that he hadn't realized he was holding until that moment and felt his body become weak as the adrenaline all flooded out at once. He was quietly smiling to himself as Miki was celebrating loudly and limping over to Ryūgamine. Tolbert followed and they both reached Ryūgamine, who was coming back to his senses, at the same time. "How're ya feeling?" Miki asked. "Did we win?" Ryūgamine asked. "Yeah, Ryūga, we won." Tolbert replied happily. "Then I feel great." Ryūgamine answered, laughing with Miki. Trivia *Soko (底) means both bottom (like bottom of the barrel) and sole (like the bottom of your foot or shoe)